


hey young blood (put on your war paint)

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Ereri Week 2015, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Squad Levi centric, set during chapter 51
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 04:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4773419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The mission was a success, but at what cost?</p>
<p>With everyone scrambling around in the wake of their loses, Levi has to figure out what to do about the holes in his squad - and Eren.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hey young blood (put on your war paint)

He didn’t need the noise to let him know the mission had gone to shit. The Military Police had been eaten, but he could have predicted that in a second; all that training and talent gone to waste as they got fatter and stupider by the year inside Wall Sina like the goddamn swine they lived amongst. He didn’t need the shouting and the running and the ragged, panicked soldiers scurrying here and there to tell him the coming months were going to be more grim than any months before had been.

But what the fucking idiotic screaming couldn’t tell him was whether or not the fucking thing had been a _success_.

“Oi,” Levi snapped, grabbing at the collar of a trembling, wide eyed member of the Survey Corps who had been running past. The idiot tried to salute when he realized who had him bent over so that Levi could look him in the eye, but Levi didn’t have time for that shit. “Was it a success or not?”

“Suc-success or not, sir,” the idiot parroted back. He was going into shock, the way many soldiers did once the danger was past. That was a good sign for the rest of the night, but it still didn’t give him any fucking _answers_. Levi gritted his teeth and tried to be patient.

“Did you or did you not retrieve him,” Levi asked, as plainly as possible. The soldier looked at him, mouth open, and said nothing. Levi wanted to hit him for a split second, give him a fucking reason for the fear in his eyes, but he didn’t.

Instead he loosened his grip on the soldier’s collar and let him straighten, his own hands falling to his sides. The soldier blinked and slowly, just barely, the trembling slowed. Levi waited, the screaming around them climbing to all new heights, shouts for help in the medical tent for the commander’s arm growing high and distinct among the mess.

Levi twitched. He wasn’t surprised about that either; Erwin’s decisions had always been one stupid gamble after the next. With the odds on this mission, with the fact that there was little preparation and more cannon fodder than actual help companying him, Levi wasn’t surprised at all.

But there were other matters that worried him more.

“Where is Eren Jaeger,” Levi asked, trying to keep his shoulders from slumping in front of the soldier. Nothing upset panicked soldiers more than their superiors acting as if they could bear no more.

“Oh,” the soldier said stupidly. He paused, mouth working, before snapping suddenly into a proper salute, one with such an abrupt start Levi almost took a step back. “Eren Jaeger has been safely retrieved from the armored titan type and the colossal titan type, sir!” This time his pause was sheepish, his balled up fist falling to the side as he tipped his head down to Levi like he understood.

At any other point Levi might have let the soldier stagger through whatever nonsense he was about to spit out, but it was shaping up to be a piss poor evening and a long, fruitless night. Levi didn’t have time for this anymore, not now that he knew the last member of his squad was safe.

“Dismissed,” Levi said, interjecting as quickly as he could. And then, throat tight, he added on a quiet, “thank you,” to the end. He turned to leave, only to have the soldier grab his arm, gently and carefully, the taller craning to look at him with big, searching eyes.

“Sir, I believe Scout Leader Hanji is with the rest of the remaining 104th, Eren included. In case you’re looking for them too, sir.”

Levi wasn’t, but more so out of the assumption that he wasn’t quite prepared for the information on Hanji’s whereabouts than any lack of curiosity. Levi nodded and the soldier dropped his arm, looking abashed and small all of a sudden. Levi wished through the headache building behind his eyes that he could remember the soldier’s name.

“Thank you,” Levi repeated again. “Go see if there’s anyone else who needs your help before you rest.”

One last salute and the soldier vanished back into the fading afternoon light, darting back toward where most of the chaos was. Levi watched him go, sorting through the information in his head.

Erwin had been brought back, sans one arm or so.

Hanji was safe.

Eren was _safe_.

It had been more than he was hoping for, so with a steeling breath he turned to head toward the medical section, which he had had the forethought to suggesting setting up before hand, just in case. Pixis found him only a few feet down the street, falling into step with him without a word.

That wasn’t a good sign, Levi knew. But since he’d already received his piece of good news for the night, he had expected anything different.

 

-

 

“So he’ll live, then,” Levi asked, arms crossed as the exhausted medical staff blinked at his bland tone. One woman looked seconds from chewing him out for his apparent disregard and he didn’t have the time to explain how carefully controlled the trembling in his chest was, how he would positively love a breakdown if his line of work permitted useless fucking shit like that. Who the fuck had time for a fucking breakdown as a commanding officer in the fucking military? Shitty fucking officers, that’s who, and Levi wasn’t a shitty fucking officer.

“Yes sir,” one of the younger medical staff answered, voice thin and eyes bleary. “He’ll live.”

“He might not want to,” another muttered, like Levi couldn’t fucking hear them in the silence of the room. Levi didn’t look at them, but Pixis did, sliding his eyes along the line until the perpetrator straightened with a small sound and froze.

“Dismissed,” Pixis said, soft and almost kind. He had a way of speaking that sounded like he was doing you a favor when he was really filing away your name to fuck you over later. Fucking old bastard. Levi liked him, as much as he could like anyone who played the fucking political bullshit that went on over Levi’s head.

“Thank you,” Levi added dryly, watching them file out the door. The last one in line, a woman with a set of crow’s feet around her tired bloodshot eyes, paused to let them know someone would come to check on their commander every hour, to insure he was all right. Levi almost told her that it wasn’t like he was going anywhere, but he bit the comment back at the last moment.

The stress was getting to him already.

Pixis turned toward Levi, opening his mouth, more than likely about to dump a whole heaping of shit on his lap. Levi raised a hand to stall him, eying the unconscious figure on the bed.

Decisions needed to be made, but there was only one decision Levi cared about at that moment.

“I need to check on my squad,” Levi said. “When I come back, we’ll dig through the bullshit of what to do in the upcoming week.”

Pixis said nothing, but the wrinkles that almost buried his eyebrows climbed higher up on his forehead. Levi gritted his teeth and ignored it, nodding at the other man before he crossed the room and left.

“Tell Eren I said hello,” Pixis called after him, proving once again that the military was full of smartass shitheads of all age groups.

Levi didn’t tell him to fuck off, but he did close the door with a little more force than necessary. Then he went to find someone who could point him in Hanji’s – and Eren’s – direction.

 

-

 

Hanji almost hugged him when he stepped through the door and Levi almost let them. They looked like shit, hair a mess, glasses missing, uniform dirty to the point where Levi wasn’t sure it would ever come out clean again, but they were breathing, chest rising and falling, and they were safe.

“Spit it out,” Levi said, after Hanji had stared at him for a stupid amount of time and still hadn’t spoken. “We don’t have all fucking day, goddammit.”

“I have a theory,” Hanji said, voice hushed and solemn. They didn’t say any more, but Levi had known them long enough to put the pieces together. If Hanji wasn’t excited about a theory then they were throat deep in shit and choking on it. He sighed.

“Erwin’s alive and hopefully on the fucking mend, but unconscious,” he interjected, “so you might as well take whoever you need for this fucking theory and go already.”

“Connie Springer,” Hanji said immediately, the name familiar in a way that made Levi think he must be one of the 104th that was still around. “But first I need to make sure we keep Pastor Nick safe.”

Levi nodded, pulling out a set of scribbled instructions to the house where he’d left Pastor Nick when the shouting had signaled the soldiers had returned. Hanji took the paper without a word, turning to stride away, but paused, shoulders rigid.

“Tell me it later,” Levi said, figuring whatever the fuck it was it could wait. If it hadn’t been one of the first things out of their mouth, it wasn’t important enough to warrant fucking flipping out over it. But still Hanji lingered, hands clenching and unclenching, and Levi sighed, feeling tired in a way that no amount of sleep would ever fix.

“The mission was a success,” Levi reminded them, voice flat in a way that definitely would have made that medic yell at him. “Whatever loss, whatever cost, Eren was saved. The mission was a success.”

Hanji twisted to look back at him, expression odd. They licked their lips, hair hanging in their eyes, and said, “tell that to Eren.” And then they were gone, striding out the door and closing it behind them with barely a sound, leaving him in a battered little house where the echo of footsteps sounded from above.

A second later Armin appeared at the foot of the stairs, peeking into the room with a quiet, “squad leader?” that cut off as soon as he saw Levi. His eyes widened and he stumbled, looking surprised for a split second before he straightened. There was a look in the kid’s eyes Levi recognized from Erwin.

“Nice to see you kept your head,” Levi said, to keep the kid from calling his name or saluting or something. He’d had enough of that shit for one night. He marched forward, watching Armin shift out of the way to let him up the stairs.

“Sir,” Armin said, as he drew level to him. “Do you know if the commander’s okay?”

“One of his gambles finally bit him in the ass,” Levi said, “but he’ll pull through.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but it also wasn’t completely a lie. The less the kid needed to worry about, the better. “It’s just that now a pair of gloves are going to last him twice as long.”

Armin made a face at the joke, a little twist of his lips and nose that reminded Levi that Eren’s file had said they grew up together. He didn’t know why it reminded him of that, but it did. He wondered if the kid made that same expression at Eren a lot.

Armin nodded, pulling his attention away from his wayward thoughts. The blonde glanced above them and gestured, movements tired but sure.

“Eren and Historia are with Mikasa in the room on the left. Jean and Connie are on the right. Historia’s in with Eren. Mikasa broke her ribs, but Hanji made sure she was taken care of, and Jean had a shallow leg injury that was sewn up too. Jean and Connie are sleeping, but I think Eren’s still awake.”

Levi hadn’t asked for the update, but it was nice to know he wouldn’t have to poke his head into random rooms to find Eren. He nodded and Armin smiled, faint and shallow in a way that didn’t reach his eyes before turning to descend the last few stairs. Levi took the stairs slowly, his ankle still sore from the fight with the female titan, Annie, and when he reached the hallway he opened the first door on the left without pause.

The room was dark, even though evening had only just fallen, lit by the lantern light coming in from the street outside the window. Eren was a slumped dark shape in a chair beside the bed, shoulders tense, head bowed, and when the creak of the door didn’t stir him Levi considered that Armin might have been wrong. Historia glanced at him, small and blonde and vaguely familiar, standing at the window and peeking out. Levi opened his mouth to say something, but then Eren shifted, head lifting, twisting to peek behind him, and Levi cut himself off before he could disturb the silence.

Levi expected the same sort of reaction that his presence used to pull from Eren, but he was wrong. Eren didn’t snap to attendance, he didn’t salute or squeak out his name, he just sat there, eyes gleaming in the faint light.

Levi glanced at the lump under the covers of the bed before shaking his head. Eren stood, only a little stagger in his movements, and carefully strode across the room. Levi stepped out, back into the hallway, until his back was against the far wall. Eren followed him out of the room and shut the door carefully behind him, glancing further down at the doorway where the rest of his friends were before glancing back at Levi. He straightened slowly, eyes drifting to meet Levi’s until he could see how fucking hollow the boy was inside. Levi also couldn’t help but notice the sickly pale tint to Eren’s skin or the way his shoulders twitched, so tense it had to be giving him a headache in the base of his skull.

Levi remembered sharply what Hanji had said, about telling Eren that their mission was a success. But there was a twitch to the boy, the same restlessness that had cloaked him under the courtroom that stilled Levi’s tongue. Eren’s hands were clenching and unclenching in fists as his side and Levi thought he didn’t need another pep talk about his worth. Eren knew he was important, knew that the fucking weight of everyone’s hopes and dreams rested on his fucking shoulders.

Eren didn’t need a fucking talk. Levi suspected that none of the kids needed a fucking talking to or someone to hold their hands, not right now. What they needed was rest.

An idea began to form in the back of his head, half baked but growing more solid by the second. It wasn’t the best fucking idea he’d ever had, but it wasn’t the shittiest either.

“I have to go help fill Erwin’s fucking shoes while he recovers,” Levi said, watching as Eren shifted on the balls of his feet. Eren looked ready to be told he was needed in another reckless life-threatening mission and Levi’s gut clenched at the idea of sending him, sick and exhausted, into another fight. He swallowed, making sure his words rang as a clear order when he continued with, “keep your shithead friends out of any more fucking trouble, alright?”

Eren blinked and Levi thought he saw the corner of his mouth twitch. “Yes sir,” Eren said, voice rough and hoarse, like he had been screaming all day. He probably had. The thought made Levi feel faintly sick and so fucking tired.

“And no more getting fucking kidnapped,” Levi added awkwardly, when neither of them moved from their spots in the hallway. “If I have to lead another fucking rescue mission before the week ends I’m gonna shit a fucking brick.”

Eren didn’t laugh, like Levi was half trying to make him, but he did smile ever so faintly before he nodded. “Yes sir,” he repeated quietly. “I’ll do my best, sir.”

Levi had no doubt about that; Eren had always given him his best and even better. But it was still nice to hear. “Go get some fucking sleep,” Levi muttered, twisting to leave. “You look like shit.”

For the second time Levi felt a hand on his arm, pulling him back as he tried to leave. Eren was suddenly there, tall and gangly and earnest, staring down at Levi with big fucking green eyes that made his chest hurt.

“You too, sir,” Eren said, ducking his head as his hand fell from Levi’s arm. Levi stared at him for a long second, feeling the urge to smile rise in him like an ache.

“You saying I look like shit, Jaeger,” he asked, faintly amused through the haze of the headache that was throbbing more with the minute. Eren jolted, eyes going even wider, and this time Levi did smile, just a little bit as he watched the boy sputter for a response.

“Relax,” he said, sparing him after a few seconds. Eren eased back, eyelashes fluttering, and Levi felt something like relief begin to blossom as Eren’s shoulders slumped into a more natural, relaxed position.

“If you need me send one of your friends with a coded message,” Levi told him quietly. “We shouldn’t have any more spies in our midst, but you can never be too fucking careful. I’ll be back soon.”

Eren’s last call of _yes sir!_ followed him down the stairs and dogged his steps as he left the building. Armin called a goodbye after him as he left and Levi waved tiredly, not looking back. Moblit was stationed outside, probably until Hanji came back, and Levi nodded to him as he past as well, receiving one in return.

Now that he had made sure, with his own eyes, that Eren was alright there were other matters to be dealt with.

Like the matter of his replacement squad and their stationing within the walls…

 

-

 

A week later Levi sighed as the cabin came into sight,cresting the last hill to the cabin. He’d been in more unofficial fucking meetings within the past few days than he had ever been in his life and it had been absolutely miserable. The only highlight was the decision about his squad and their new location, because that gave him control of the immediate situation, which was a nice change of pace. Connie rode forward, calling out to his friends who were outside, voice ringing out into the open hair. It looked like Historia was outside, as well as the tall one – Jean – and the brown haired girl they hadn’t found until halfway through the week – Sasha. Connie swung off his horse and tried to hand the reins off to Jean, laughing something about the other boy having a horse face, which sounded like an old taunt. Levi moved past them without a word, swinging off his own horse and tying it up on the post by the door before he slipped inside. The kids followed behind him nosily, distracted by each other, which meant that when he drew up short they stumbled into his back, three gangly teenagers almost knocking him over with their weight.

It was filthy in the cabin.

Fucking.

_Filthy_.

“Tell me you haven’t been living in this fucking pigsty for the past three days,” Levi said, exasperated and disgusted to the room at large. There was a wince from someone just outside one of the doors before Eren stumbled in, tall and gangly and dust covered, his hair a mess and handkerchief tied loosely around his neck.

“Sir,” Eren sputtered, eyes darting to the teenagers behind him. His face shifted into a scowl, fierce and lively, eyes bright as the sun outside. He didn’t speak again until Levi cleared his throat, making him snap back to attention, his expression flushing a sheepish pink. “It was, uh, worse we arrived, sir.”

Worse when they arrived. Levi shuddered at the thought.

“Is he seriously complaining that this place is dirty,” someone behind him whispered loudly. “We cleaned for, like, hours!”

Levi felt something in his face twitch. He was somewhat relieved to see the same twitch in Eren, who all but threw his arms in the air in frustration as he visibly withheld from yelling _I told you so_.

“Hm,” Levi hummed. “First thing tomorrow we’re going over this place top to bottom.” The announcement was met with loud, horrified groans from behind him, sounding mostly like they came from Jean and Connie. He noted absently that Mikasa and Armin were peeking around the door jam behind Eren, peering around with visible curiosity. If his headcount was right, that meant everyone was within hearing range. Good. Time for his second announcement.

“For now prepare for dinner,” he instructed. Protests rose in the teenagers eyes and he glared them down with a scowl. “We’ll be having _guests_.”

Silence met his statement and satisfied Levi moved forward, crossing the room in a few long strides. Eren stepped back to let him past, shifting to lean back against the wall, eyes narrowed at – Levi had to turn to peek – Jean with a heated glare. Levi snorted as he left the room, moving through the door past Armin and Mikasa, listening to the conversation as it picked up in the next room.

“I fucking _told you_ ,” Eren hissed, sounding like fire rattling through the cabin. “I _told you_ it was too _filthy_!”

“What the hell,” Jean exclaimed, loud and surprised. “It’s totally clean in here! I don’t know what you’re talking about, man, we cleaned for _ages_.”

“You cleaned like _shit_ ,” Eren all but shouted and Levi allowed himself a small smile in the empty room adjacent to the room where they argued. He hadn’t had time to study everyone as he came in, but the glance of Eren showed his skin was back to its usual pallor, not sickly and pale like he’d been upon his initial return, which was at least something. His eyes still looked a little dark and hollow and he still held himself rigidly, shoulders tense, but his fire was back, as was his spirit, if all the yelling was any indication.

It looked like Levi was in for a life full of loud, incompetent teenagers who couldn’t clean for shit or get along for a few goddamn minutes without starting a fist fight. But they had potential and spirit in them, which Levi could work with, and if a few days around them had managed to bring Eren’s color and fire back then the new Squad Levi was _definitely_ worth the lack of coherent cleaning abilities.

**Author's Note:**

> canonverse ereri week day 4: squad levi. another old wip I finally finished and edited for this purpose, lol. clearing out my wip folder this week, thank god.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! C:


End file.
